tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74818528940911013942024-03-13T18:00:42.710-04:00Under The Old Oak TreeEricasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-20623887981864352222013-02-22T05:00:00.000-05:002013-02-22T05:00:00.966-05:00This Moment- Her Favorite Toy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">From </em><a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><em>SouleMama</em></span></a><em style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">: {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Share your own moment in the comments or at</em><a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><em>SouleMama.com</em></span></a><em style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">.</em></div>
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Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-83812938955825714952013-02-20T16:30:00.001-05:002013-02-20T16:30:36.445-05:00Yarn Along - Preparing for SpringI'm joining with <a href="http://www.gsheller.com/category/yarn-along" target="_blank">Ginny at Small Things again for the Yarn Along</a>.
This week my reading has largely been continuing to read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sanctuaries-Childhood-Nurturing-Childs-Spiritual/dp/0967571316/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361395516&sr=8-1&keywords=Sanctuaries+of+Childhood" target="_blank">Sanctuaries of Childhood</a>, and as I look forward towards spring I've been consulting with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Collection-Stories-Children-Kindergarten/dp/0946206465/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361395638&sr=1-7&keywords=Wynstones+Press" target="_blank">Wynstoes Press's Spring book</a>. We've started doing a story and a few circle verses each morning after breakfast again and I'd like to keep it up as we move into spring so I'm going through my resources.<br />
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I'm continuing working on the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/picky-pants-2" target="_blank">picky pants</a> that I wrote about last week. I've finished the short rows in them so just a little bit more till I start the gussets and legs. My new project this week has been getting more of my attention. I started working on another <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/autumn-leaves-2" target="_blank">Autumn Leaves sweater</a> for Rosebud. This time I'm knitting it in white to go over her Easter Dress and Baptism gown. With Easter being so early this year I'm going to make this one with long sleeves since it's likely to be a bit chilly. I LOVE this pattern. It's absolutely one of my favorites and was even more enjoyable to knit the second time.
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<br />Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-91426256677797528952013-02-17T17:32:00.001-05:002013-02-17T17:33:16.875-05:00Simple Joys-Signs of Spring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What a great joy it was to walk out on my balcony this week and find little leaf buds on the stems of my rose bush! Even on a cold day like today seeing this is a reminder that spring is in deed on its' way back to us and that soon there will be lots of things growing and springing forth with blossoms out there. What hope and joy!<br />
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What is your simple joy this week?
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" /><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&owner=UnderTheOldOakTree&postid=17Feb2013"></script>Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-71144983792054583672013-02-15T11:57:00.000-05:002013-02-15T12:01:21.277-05:00Valentine's Day Baby Gym<span style="font-size: large;">Happy Valentine's Day (a day late) to you all. Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday, but we've had a couple of crazy, busy days here Under The Old Oak Tree. By the time we got home from school and then getting the stitches taken out of Toadstool's head, I was just too tired to take the last few pictures I needed or to write up this post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I've been thinking for a while that Rosebud would probably really enjoy a baby gym. Her favorite place in the world is at home on the floor on her sheepskin rug. It's a warm cozy spot and big brother Toadstool likes to join her there (he got his own sheepskin for Valentine's Day so they can be near each other but not have him so in her space all the time). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I looked into buying her a wooden baby gym, but the price was way more than I could justify for a toy she'll probably only use for a few months. I started looking online and came across <a href="http://intheshadeoftheoldoaktree.blogspot.com/2013/02/ash-wednesday-and-lent.html" target="_blank">these directions from Seedpod Craft</a>. I decided that I could do this! I used heart plaques instead of ovals and Toadstool and I spent quite a while sanding all the rough edges off and rounding them to have a more Waldorf aesthetic. We also rounded off the ends of the 4 support dowel rods. We don't have a huge amount of space in our small apartment so I felt that it was important that we be able to take the whole thing apart and reassemble it easily. I'm not sure how often we'll do this, but I'm sure there are times we'll need to, so instead of attaching the legs with wood screws, I drilled all the way through and used machine screws with wing nuts. I decided it was safe enough if they were well tightened and we take it apart and put it away once she's pulling up on things. To go on it I knit <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/baby-hearts" target="_blank">a pink and red heart</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/amigurumi-ladybug---simple-version" target="_blank">a pink and red <strike>ladybug</strike> lovebug with heart spots </a>which attach to the cross bar with i-cord.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> I did a bit of cooking for Valentine's Day this year too. I made us heart shaped brownies. My brownie recipe is an adaptation of <a href="http://www.elanaspantry.com/paleo-breakfast-bread/" target="_blank">Elana's Pantry's breakfast bread,</a> but you'd never know it. They really have a good bit of protein and very little sugar in them and are so so rich and chocolatey! I'll have to post my changes to her base recipe at some point. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I made these heart shaped peanut butter cookies for Papa to take to work for the Sweets Day he was organizing for his co-workers. They turned out really cute shaped as hearts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For our breakfast I made my guys and I heart shaped eggs and bacon with a little chocolate cherry mouse. These mice have been quite the hit with Toadstool. He loves mice (so much that his teachers at school gave him a little needle-felted one for his birthday) and cherries so when I saw <a href="http://www.themagiconions.com/2011/02/lets-make-chocolate-cherry-mice.html" target="_blank">these over at The Magic Onions</a>, I knew I had to make him some! One on each plate was a perfect little sweet start to our Valentine's Day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Toadstool and Rosebud show off one of the Valentine hearts he made to give to family and friends this week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Linking to <a href="http://www.naturalsuburbia.com/2013/02/creative-friday-25.html" target="_blank">Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia</a>.</span><br />
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<br />Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-342188649856767942013-02-15T08:46:00.000-05:002013-02-15T08:46:18.184-05:00This Moment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<em style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">From </em><a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><em>SouleMama</em></span></a><em style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">: {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Share your own moment in the comments or at</em><a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><em>SouleMama.com</em></span></a><em style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">.</em></div>
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<br />Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-18014785332207700072013-02-13T15:59:00.000-05:002013-02-13T15:59:06.315-05:00Ash Wednesday and Lent<span style="font-size: large;">I wasn't sure how much we as a family would do this year for Lent. I didn't have much planned besides Toadstool and I giving something up for the forty days and planning to attend an Ash Wednesday service at our church this evening. We did have <a href="http://mattikaarts.com/blog/baking-recipes/gluten-free-buckwheat-pancakes/" target="_blank">buckwheat pancakes </a>last night for dinner (yum) but beyond that I just hadn't planned much.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">However, today, I decided we needed to do a little more. I struggle however with exactly how to bring Lent to a four year old in a gentle age appropriate way. I think after consulting some of my resource books and a few blogs I have figured it out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We as a family never got around to Candlemas this year. We were all sick and have a still relatively new baby in the house and it just didn't happen. So today Toadstool and I melted down our Advent candles from this year and the remnants of last year's Lenten Candle and poured some candles for Lent this year. I'm not sure where I came across this idea, but it's our third year making a purple beeswax candle for Lent from our Advent wreath candles and I think it's a lovely idea. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We made two candles...the larger will be used on our dinning room table. The smaller will sit in a little bowl of sand on our nature table to be used as a prayer garden for Lent. I was inspired by <a href="http://fromthesheepfold.blogspot.com/2012/03/try-this-lenten-prayer-garden.html" target="_blank">this lovely post from Thoughts From the Sheepfold</a>. Each member of our family has a smooth stone to put in the garden to represent a joy or prayer concern each day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For the rest of the nature table we removed everything (we left a few hearts around the tree till after Valentine's Day tomorrow) and put down purple silks. On top of that we placed our prayer garden, a pile of 4 little rocks, a piece of wood and a small bowl of water. <a href="http://exploreandexpress-sheila.blogspot.com/2012/02/lenten-nature-table-2012.html" target="_blank">Explore and Express had some very nice ideas for the Lenten Nature Table here.</a> </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-02GJjCY0zzY/URv86yKpsDI/AAAAAAAAC58/5-z3ebq7lJM/s1600/1-DSC_0019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-02GJjCY0zzY/URv86yKpsDI/AAAAAAAAC58/5-z3ebq7lJM/s640/1-DSC_0019.JPG" width="426" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tomorrow, once we have some clay, we will make a Prayer Pot to also go on the nature table following <a href="http://exploreandexpress-sheila.blogspot.com/2012/03/lenten-prayer-pots.html" target="_blank">these instructions, also from Explore and Express</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have also decided to tell a story to Toadstool each day during Lent, as we did with the Mother Mary story at Advent. The Authors of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/All-Year-Round-Lifeways-Druitt/dp/1869890477/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360788593&sr=1-1&keywords=all+year+round" target="_blank">All Year Round</a> recommend a quiet moment with young children each day. That is not something my darling Toadstool does well with, however, he will sit a listen to a story and we looked forward to the Mother Mary story so much each day and I felt it really helped to give that season more meaning to Toadstool. I decided that The Hare from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Collection-Stories-Children-Kindergarten/dp/0946206465/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1360788553&sr=8-3&keywords=wynstones" target="_blank">Wynstone Press's Spring book</a> hit the right tone for Lent with its' focus on Christ bringing light and hope to the world and the importance of staying on our course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now I just need to find my devotional book for Lent and I think we'll be set for a lovely meaningful period as we look towards Holy Week and Easter.</span>Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-13977385355349414092013-02-13T06:00:00.000-05:002013-02-13T06:00:08.304-05:00Yarn Along<span style="font-size: large;">I'm joining with Ginny today at <a href="http://www.gsheller.com/category/yarn-along" target="_blank">Small Things for the Yarn Along</a>. This week I'm knitting on a new pair of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/picky-pants-2" target="_blank">wool longies for Rosebud</a> using the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/picky-pants" target="_blank">Picky Pants</a> pattern. This is the second pair of these I'm making for her and we really love them but she needs a second pair for when the first ones need to dry out between diaper changes. We've really been loving our wool longies and soakers as diaper covers lately and there's something so sweet and cuddly about a baby wearing wool!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My reading this week is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sanctuaries-Childhood-Nurturing-Childs-Spiritual/dp/0967571316/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360529406&sr=8-1&keywords=sanctuaries+of+childhood" target="_blank">Sanctuaries of Childhood by Shea Darian</a>. I love this book so far and it ties in nicely with what I've been thinking lately about the sacredness of childhood and motherhood. I do believe that as their mother, I need to be sharing my faith with Toadstool and Rosebud. I also agree with Ms. Darian that this goes beyond simply sharing my religion with them through attending church (though that does play an important role in our family) and rather also includes helping them see God's grace and beauty in the world around us everyday. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Having just read the preface and first chapter, this book is inspiring me and there are several things I want to bring to our family including adapting the blessings she includes for coming home and leaving the house among things. I think I will print my own variations of these on some watercolor paintings and hang them by our front door. How lovely it would be to pause as a family and say a blessing verse as we come or go rather than to just rush in or out the door! </span><br />
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<br />Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-8767418285593366512013-02-10T10:34:00.002-05:002013-02-10T10:34:24.438-05:00Simple Joys-Community<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QLnIhWg7yHQ/URe3RmwMNzI/AAAAAAAAC4k/WQuTa5rVnVo/s1600/1-DSC_0004-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QLnIhWg7yHQ/URe3RmwMNzI/AAAAAAAAC4k/WQuTa5rVnVo/s640/1-DSC_0004-001.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">You might ask what a picture of Toadstool with a bandage on his poor little head has to do with community or joy. Well, the bandage is covering four stitches that he got this week after falling at the park while there with his class at school. My poor guy. Not too joyful yet....huh?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, our school and the community around it is amazing as was evidenced yet again by the whole situation. We were so supported by the whole community through this...from Toadstool's teachers to the office staff to the other parents they were just so wonderful and helpful. A staff member from the school even went to the ER with us till Papa could get there and his teacher called several times that afternoon/evening to check on him. My mama friends from the school were so supportive too. One of them had alerted me to call the school as we pulled up to where we were meeting. We had lots of folks checking in with us and got some wonderful suggestions from other parents (this was new uncharted territory for us...amazingly this is the first time I've ever had to deal with stitches with one of my children).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the end Toadstool's injury wasn't that serious. We think his forehead was cut by a piece of mulch when he fell running from one part of the playground to another. It's a good cut and did need stitches but there wasn't a knot or a bump or anything with it. He's healing well. Lot s of joy over that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm grateful it wasn't worse than it was and I'm also grateful for all the support our family received It is a true joy to be a part of that community and I value the friendships and relationships we have at our school so much as well as the true sense of community as we all work together to make it a beautiful safe, loving haven for our children and by extension, their families! Knowing we are a part of this special community brings great joy for our family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What are your simple joys this week?</span><br />
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Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-11525982122599741532013-02-08T06:00:00.000-05:002013-02-08T06:00:03.703-05:00This Moment - Her Mama Knits A Little....<br />
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<em>From </em><a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><em>SouleMama</em></span></a><em>: {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Share your own moment in the comments or at</em><a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><em>SouleMama.com</em></span></a><em>.</em></div>
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I have to admit I've not been reading anything over the past week or so. I've been a bit busy with caring Toadstool, Rosebud and myself while we've been sick and with a few handwork projects as we prepare for Valentine's Day next week.<br />
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My knitting project today is <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/baby-hearts">this baby heart</a> that will be part of a larger project Toadstool and I are making for Rosebud for Valentine's Day. I can't wait to show you all the bigger project as it comes together and I get some photos of it taken.<br />
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I've been working on some bigger knitting projects too. Rosebud is growing like crazy and many of her newborn items are no longer fitting so I've been trying to keep up and get a few new things made for her recently. I've just finished a pair of longies, some booties and a sweater. I'll try to get pictures and Ravelry notes up as I am able to get to it! She's badly in need of a new hat, at least one more pair of longies and some bibs so I have just a few more things to cast on! I'm also hoping to make one or two more pairs of booties for her since the ones I made don't really go with everything and she needs them to keep her little feet warm. Also Toadstool has finally outgrown his pair of mama-made socks so I need to get busy on a new pair for him. He likes having a little mama-love on his feet when he goes to school.Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-65801978376757225912013-02-03T06:00:00.000-05:002013-02-03T06:00:07.599-05:00Simple Joy - My RosebudThis week the simple joy I am focusing on is watching my darling Rosebud as she grows and changes and hits milestones. We've been under the weather this week and I kept Toadstool home from school for two days. It's given us a little extra time at home as we recuperate . Today we used some of that time for a little extra tummy time and to practice a bit with the camera.<br />
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Toadstool and I delighted in watching Rosebud as she surprised us by rolling over for the first time! I was lucky enough to capture photos of her first roll .She happily repeated this new skill over and over.<br />
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What Simple Joys have you enjoyed this week?<br />
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" /><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&owner=UnderTheOldOakTree&postid=01Feb2013"></script>Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-6619139391301871112013-02-01T08:54:00.001-05:002013-02-01T08:55:22.726-05:00This Moment-Sibling Snuggles<br />
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<em>From </em><a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><em>SouleMama</em></span></a><em>: {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Share your own moment in the comments or at</em><a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: initial;" target="blank"><span style="color: #2288bb;"><em>SouleMama.com</em></span></a><em>.</em></div>
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Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-31753723598232030442012-12-12T09:39:00.000-05:002012-12-12T09:39:58.077-05:00Introducing...<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Maggie Rose</i></span></b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RBF7tjgOtp0/UMiVm0bq5VI/AAAAAAAACx0/ipn75l6JQZQ/s1600/DSC_1241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="429" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RBF7tjgOtp0/UMiVm0bq5VI/AAAAAAAACx0/ipn75l6JQZQ/s640/DSC_1241.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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In late October, 11 days after my due date I finally went into early labor and had the baby the next morning after only an hour and a half of active labor. My beautiful girl was born at home, in my bed (we had anticipated a water birth, but she came so fast we couldn't get it set up in time). The birth was totally different from what I had expected and prepared for, but, as I told my midwife, it was a perfect, beautiful and healing birth experience. <br />
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Miss Maggie Rose has been such a blessing to our family and we are all so in love with her. W is a wonderful big brother and is truly devoted to his baby sister (though he still sometimes wishes she had been a baby brother). <br />
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<br />Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-76815403026075993982012-09-05T09:12:00.000-04:002012-09-05T09:12:16.948-04:00Preparing for Autumn-Pumpkin Pie Chia PuddingForgive me, I totally forgot to take any pictures of this before we ate it all up, but it's too good not to share. I'm sure I'll be making it again soon and I'll try to take a picture and post it before it's gobbled up.<br />
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Recently, W and I have been eating Greek yogurt with a little granola, chia seeds and walnuts for breakfast. It's been one of the few breakfasts that seems to fill him up and stay with him for any period of time. Anything else and he's hungry again in 15 minutes. Second and third breakfasts were becoming common place at our house because W was just always hungry till we started on the Greek yogurt/granola combo. So yesterday I found <a href="http://ohsheglows.com/2011/10/14/pumpkin-pie-chia-pudding-parfait/">this recipe for Pumpkin pie chia pudding</a> and it sounded so, so good, but I knew to meet our current nutritional needs, it needed some changes. I'd been craving pumpkin pie for some reason all day and had bought a little canned pumpkin thinking I'd try to make myself something to quell that craving.<br />
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So, I came up with my version of Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding, made with W's beloved Greek Yogurt, and using stevia to replace much of the maple syrup (I left a little in just for some lovely maple flavor).<br />
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The verdict is that this is some seriously yummy stuff! Perfect for fall! W ate his with his usual granola and walnuts (I just had walnuts to top mine). W told me that "It is spicy but it's my favorite!" It also seemed to fill him up adequately enough to make another good breakfast choice for our family. It's nice to have a little variety from time to time, so I'm working on variations of our basic tried and true breakfast.<br />
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<b>Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding</b><br />
(makes three servings)<br />
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1 cup canned pumpkin<br />
1 cup Greek yogurt<br />
3 Tablespoons chia seeds<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla<br />
1 teaspoon cinnamon<br />
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (ours is from Frontier)<br />
3-4 drops liquid stevia (or to taste)<br />
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup<br />
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Mix all ingredients, pour into single serving dishes and refrigeration overnight. Top with your favorite granola and walnuts if desired.Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-458121017884193622012-08-29T17:45:00.001-04:002012-08-29T17:46:34.341-04:00Of Oak Leaves and Acorns...... A Yarn Along PostDo you feel that slight nip on the breeze? It's subtle....but it's there....that first hint in the air that fall is on it's way! After this miserable, hot summer it makes my heart sing! I always love that first glimpse that my favorite time of year is on it's way. I start wanting to cook our family's favorite fall dishes, lots of pumpkin flavored things, cranberry, apple stuffed pork chops, soups, etc. School starts soon and there's the anticipation of W going off to school a few mornings a week by himself for the first time and all the back to school preparations that need to be made. His sweater and vest that he wanted for school this year are completed (and still both need to be photographed...but as I write this he is napping and I'm afraid I will wake him if I try to get them out of his dresser drawer). I'm working on a pair of socks for him for this year.....struggling to keep working on them. I love the pattern, but I think the plain blue yarn is boring me to tears. Hard to work on them when there are more exciting things to knit these days.<br />
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Our family's favorite sign that fall is around the corner though is that acorn season seems to be upon us! W discovered acorns by a parking lot the other day and was beside himself with excitement (I might have been too actually) and we picked up quite a few to start off our yearly collection. The following day we found more at a local park. The child is in acorn heaven and this sign of fall is about to start taking over our nature table, and his room, and our cars. It's just that time of year!<br />
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As luck would have it, I've been knitting more little hats for the baby, since our midwife wants us to have quite a few for it as soon as it is born. I've made several of my favorite pilot caps, but decided a few other little caps might come in handy too. They are quick and enjoyable to knit. For the second one I made, I decided to use the cables from the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/forever-autumn">Forever Autumn</a> sock pattern, and repeat it five times around a <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/newborn-oakleaf-hat">little cap</a>. It's darling, but I think the colorway of the yarn might be a little too busy for the cables. Still, I love that my autumn baby will have some oak leaves on one of it's first little caps, and it matches one of the little sweaters I made for the baby over the summer.<br />
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Then I decided that I really need an <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/oak-leaf-hat-for-mama">oak leaf cabled hat</a> too, so I used some Andes Del Campo in Smolder Heather from knit picks that I had on hand and size 8 needles to make myself a cap from the same pattern. Oh, it is love! I adore oak trees, leaves and acorns, and I am especially fond of that orangey- golden brown that many oak leaves turn in the fall. I didn't realize it at first, but this yarn is <i>that</i> color....just beautiful....and it goes with my brown winter coat too! I couldn't stop with the hat though and also had to make myself a lovely <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/oak-leaf-cowl">matching cowl</a> to wear with it (sorry I haven't blocked the cowl yet in the picture. It just came off my needles this morning.) I am so excited! It feels strange and luxurious to knit something for myself again, when I've been focusing so hard on knitting for W and for the baby. Actually, I don't think I've knit anything for myself in over a year so this is a real special treat! If I ever get W's socks off of my size 2 dpn's I'm going to finally cast on a pair of the Forever Autumn socks for me too. I think they'd be a lovely thing to give myself for my birthday this fall!<br />
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Okay, so, on to the Yarn Along portion of the post. I'm joining with <a href="http://www.gsheller.com/2012/08/yarn-along-91.html">Ginny of Small Things for her Yarn Along</a> again. <br />
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I'm knitting yet another oak leaf newborn cap out of this lovely green wool tweed yarn (sorry I just cast it on this afternoon). I'm guessing the leaf pattern should stand out better in the tweed than it did with the busy colorway of the last one I made. I'm pretty excited about knitting yet another one of these. I need to come up with something for W with this pattern on it too. He says he doesn't want a hat or cowl...maybe I'll put it on a Milo vest for him (I may have already done one like this for the baby). I've almost got the pattern memorized at this point. Maybe that should be a birthday present for him. I think he'd like that.<br />
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For reading, I've been working my way through <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Breastfeeding-Mothers-Guide-Making-More/dp/007159857X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346276100&sr=8-1&keywords=Breast+feeding+guide+to+making+more+milk">The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk.</a> There are several possible reasons I had difficulties with my supply when W was a baby, and I'm trying to be prepared to get my nursing relationship with this little one off to as good of a start as I possibly can. How I wish I had this book the last time around. You would never know it now, but it was such a struggle to feed W and to get him to actually gain weight as a baby and really I had very little support or knowledge, just a determination that I was going to feed my baby every drop of my breast milk that I could even if I still did have to supplement. It was so emotionally and physically exhausting. This time around I have so much more support, and knowledge and experience and I am going into nursing, knowing I've had issues in the past and with a much better idea of how to prevent/ minimize/work through them this time around. This book is invaluable for any mom who is going through this. Such a great resource!Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-44125880396101284062012-08-16T06:00:00.000-04:002012-08-16T06:00:01.975-04:00Grain-Free Groaning Cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I mentioned in a previous post that I think most of the reason I'm doing so well energy wise during this pregnancy is that I have made some major dietary changes. With W, I had diet controlled gestational diabetes and did fine but I feel like I still ate quite a lot of junk during that pregnancy. I ate the best I knew how at the time, but really, it wasn't great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This time around I started with my GD diet early on in the pregnancy. Okay...I tried to start it during the first trimester...but morning sickness and complete and total exhaustion made it really hard. By the second trimester though I was pretty dedicated to making the GD diet work for me. Blood work came back showing some other endocrine issues though and after meeting with my wonderful doctor and doing some research I decided that I also needed to go gluten-free. This was a huge step for me. I come from a family culture where gluten and wheat (and grains in general) are considered to be of the utmost importance and I really had to break with that type of thinking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I soon learned though that gluten-free wasn't going to be enough. Anything with rice flour spiked my blood sugar noticeably and made me not feel particularly well. I also felt like everything just tasted like white bread and it was hard for me to adjust to that. In time I started finding some good recipes that call for either almond or coconut flour or a mixture of the two. I started baking again. I fell in love with baking again. Especially with the almond flour I can eat pancakes, bread, muffins etc and my blood sugar doesn't spike. I feel like I am eating normal and healthy food and I am satisfied with it. I feel wonderful and my energy is so much higher than it has been in a really long time...probably a few years. I still get tired...I am pregnant after all, but it's not that same exhaustion I did have. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recently I've been trying to prepare myself for birth in many ways...and of course one of the things I've been thinking of is food. After W was born I was given a little frozen dinner in the hospital and it was awful. I was starving....my labor with him had been really long and hard and while I did have my support people sneak a little food to me here or there, by 12 or so hours in, I really wasn't interested in trying to eat anymore. This time, I'm planning on being at home, and I'm planning to have some good food once this baby is here! I've decided to make myself a nice nourishing beef stew with home made bone broth in the crock pot once I'm in early labor. I'll actually probably prep and freeze most of this ahead and then just dump it all together in when the time comes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've also really wanted to make a groaning cake for this labor (since way before I even got pregnant). I have several friends and acquaintances who have either made one or had their spouse or other support folks make one while they were in labor. I love the idea. It's a dense, nourishing cake with molasses and eggs to help boost the mother's iron and protein levels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had one major obstacle to this though. I could not find a gluten free, much less grain free version of this cake recipe. Not to be deterred however, I decided to go through recipes and see what I could come up with. I used <a href="http://www.elanaspantry.com/carrot-cake/">this carrot cake recipe from Elana's Pantry</a> as my base recipe and added/substituted elements from the two groaning cake recipes I found online <a href="http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/sep/03/cook-du-jour-marsha-anderson-shares-her-kimbly/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.amimckay.com/books/the-birth-house/recipe-for-groaning-cake/">here</a> (there are some lovely traditions and history of this cake that are shared on these links). I also substituted dried cranberries for the raisins as we have sulfite allergies at our house and while all/most raisins contain sulfites, we are usually okay with the dried cranberries. I decided since this was pretty different from any of the recipes I had consulted that I had better do a test run before I went into labor. So, when my midwife had to cancel our appointment as she had to attend another birth, I decided to make my cake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Grain-free Groaning cake<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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½ teaspoon real salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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3 cups <span style="text-decoration: none;">blanched almond flour</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1 teaspoon baking soda<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1 tablespoon cinnamon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1/2 teaspoon cloves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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5 eggs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1 teaspoon almond
extract<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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¼ cup molasses<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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2 Tablespoon honey<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1.5 teaspoon stevia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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¼ cup melted
coconut oil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1 Tablespoon orange
juice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Zest of one orange<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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3 cups apple, peeled
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1 cup dried
cranberries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1 cup walnuts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda,
cinnamon and cloves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, honey, molasses,
stevia, orange juice, orange zest, almond extract and oil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3. Stir apples, dried cranberries and walnuts into wet
ingredients<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5. Place batter into 2 very well greased loaf pans or <b>lined </b>muffin
tins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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necessary. A skewer should come out
mostly clean, though this is a really moist cake. Cupcakes take about 15-20
minutes to bake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> For my trial run, I made one loaf and some cupcakes. It's really important if you make this into cupcakes to use liners in their pans. The loaf came out fine, but the cupcakes stuck terribly and I couldn't get most of them out in one piece. Luckily W and DH didn't mind too much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The results were actually really good. It's dark, dense and very moist. Both of my guys and I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to trying to make it again once I'm in labor. I found that I especially like it with a bit of Swiss cheese. It's still has more sugar than almost anything I've been eating during this pregnancy so I really feel like I can only have it if I have the extra added protein. The nuttiness of the cheese is a nice contrast to the rich sweetness of the cake. I will say this was a tad bit work intensive and I am slightly concerned about trying to make it while I'm in labor. i think I will try to have my dry ingredients mixed and freeze some orange juice and orange zest ahead. I'll also try to use the food processor to grate the apples since that took forever by hand. </span><br />
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Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-68088560830023667812012-08-15T18:28:00.000-04:002012-08-15T20:20:53.039-04:00Yarn AlongYet again, it's been far too long since I posted here, but blogging ideas are starting to fill my head again so I'm going to try to start out slow with a Yarn Along post, joining with <a href="http://www.gsheller.com/2012/08/yarn-along-89.html">Ginny of Small Things</a>.<br />
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I think in my last post I mentioned that we have a baby coming in October. That was months ago. In many ways this pregnancy has been really hard on me both physically and emotionally, but things are really looking up again. My health is pretty good now and somehow now that I'm in my third trimester, most days my energy is way up (this may have something to do with some major dietary changes on my part). I finally have a wonderful birth team in place with a wonderful midwife and doula and if all things go according to play we'll get the homebirth that DH and I have so desperately wanted this time around. It's amazing how finding the right care provider changed so much of my view of this pregnancy. My original midwives were a very poor fit for me personally and many tears were shed on my part over how things went there. The past two weeks, since I found my new midwife I finally feel like I can move forward and really plan for this birth. <br />
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One of the benefits of having had such a hard first half of this pregnancy is that I had lots and lots of time where the only thing I felt up to doing was knitting. I can't wait to see this baby all snuggly in mama-knit wooly goodness. Here is a sampling of a few of the things I've made for this baby. I still have lots of items to block and photograph.<br />
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I've also made several items for big brother W as he gets ready for school this year. He especially requested that I make him an owl Milo vest (and one for "his" baby to match) along with a sweater (he also wants "his baby" to have a matching one again but I need more yarn for that). I still need to work on some rain boot liners and socks for him as well as those were his other requests. I'm delighted that he loves wearing mama-made items so much! It's very sweet and makes it a pleasure to knit for him. Sometime soon I'll have to get his sweaters blocked and photographed as well. Just maybe he'll agree to model them for me.<br />
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So, onto this Yarn Along....<br />
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I'm currently making a <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/undertholdoaktree/buttercup-baby-cardigan">Buttercup Baby Cardigan</a>. It's such a simple and quick little sweater made from worsted weight yarn which is a nice change from all the fingerling and sport weight yarns I've been working with lately. It's almost done. I just have to knit the cuff on the second sleeve and make the i-cord ties. Seems like maybe a project I can finish this evening.<br />
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Right now I am taking a break from the books on childbirth I've recently been reading so that I can read Phillipa Gregory's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Kingmakers-Daughter-Cousins-ebook/dp/B006BAEQB2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1345068397&sr=1-1&keywords=the+kingmaker%27s+daughter">The Kingmaker's Daughter</a>. Phillipa Gregory books are totally my not-so guilty pleasure. I love them and eagerly await each one, so no surprise I'm over half way through this one after starting it last night. I'll probably finish it this evening too while I work on the sweater for the baby.<br />
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<br />Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-38697464841098599832012-04-22T14:09:00.002-04:002012-04-22T14:13:54.745-04:00Checking InI haven't been to regular on here for a while. Honestly, I haven't even been keeping up with reading blogs like I used to. Today I took a few minutes to catch up on a few favorites and it feels like I've been really out of the loop for a while...lots of reading to do. So fun to see what others have been doing and creating. So, it seems like it's time for me to just check in quickly, share some big news and maybe some photos of our spring so far. <br />
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We've been busy with lots of school and other commitments. I've also been doing a good bit creatively, just not always documenting what we've been doing either in writing or in photographs. I need to get better about that again. I really do miss blogging and the community around it.<br />
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W is continuing to grow into quite an amazing little guy and is such a blessing. Our family is expecting another blessing this fall as W is going to be a big brother. I had a really rough first trimester (good for getting some knitting done, but not much else) and I am slowly starting to feel more like myself so maybe I'll actually be up to writing and photographing what we have going on in our lives more now.<br />
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Here are a few photos of our Easter and a recent trip to Mount Vernon.<br />
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<br />Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-62630453324610752112012-01-20T06:00:00.000-05:002012-01-19T20:35:28.520-05:00Simple Joys - A Simple Dinning Room Makeover<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So often in life we forget to slow down and observe and appreciate the Simple Joys that come to us. It might be a child's smile, some flowers on the dining room table, a walk in nature, or whatever little simple thing that brings you joy. My goal is to acknowledge and document one of my Simple Joys each Friday and share it with you. I hope you will add a your blog link to the simple little things that have brought joy to your life this week.</div>
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Recently, our family dinning room has been really getting to me. We eat dinner in the dining room each evening and sometimes eat breakfast or lunch there too, though more often those meals are easier for us to eat in the kitchen. Our dining room table often also seems to have become a catchall for whatever anyone wants to set down during the day. Cleaning it off and setting the table was becoming quite a big job. So, yesterday I decided a change is in order. I fished this tray off of the top of the refrigerator where it was collecting dust. I lined it with a place mat, got a vase out and bought some inexpensive flowers and put our meal candle, salt and pepper shaker and my teapot on it.<br />
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I put some clean place mats on the table and the room perked up considerably. I have set a goal that things are not to just collect on the table anymore. It's fine if each person would like to leave a glass of water or a cup of tea, but nothing else is to be left sitting on the dining room table except the items on the tray.<br />
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I'm looking forward to keeping this going and keeping some fresh flowers on the table.<br />
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?owner=UnderTheOldOakTree&postid=20Jan2012"></script>Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-71627435919895773432012-01-18T21:00:00.002-05:002012-01-18T21:00:46.413-05:00Yarn Along<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm joining with <a href="http://www.gsheller.com/2012/01/yarn-along-61.html">Ginnny of Small Things again for the Yarn along.</a> My current projects on the needles/hook are a rag rug I am crocheting from old clothes and a set of liners for W's rainboots. Here is <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/little-bean-rainboot-liners">the pattern</a> I am adapting to fit rainboots with a tab in the back instead of the handles on the sides. I feel like I've been working on these liners for a really really long time given that they are just simple in the round knitting of stockinette with a few decreases periodically. Not difficult knitting, and perhaps not the most attention grabbing either. Maybe that's why I keep setting them when other projects come up. I'll be happy if I finish them for W's rainboots this spring. I do think they will be very practical for him to have for playgroup and school and they make the boots look so cute! In terms of reading, I've been a bit all over the place. I have been re-reading Little Women again on my Kindle. It's easy night reading that doesn't keep me up since I've read it so many times in the past, but is cozy and comforting like a visit with old friends. It's definitely one of my all time favorites.</div>
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I've finished two other projects since my last Yarn Along. The first is this scrappy hat for W. He had a lovely hat with a long floppy point that I had made for him last year. It was causing some issues on the playground at school however since all of his friends wanted to pull on it, so we decided he needed a new hat. I had also been thinking about knitting a cowl for him but decided to make him <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lyalya-hoodie">this </a>instead. He loves it and was so happy wearing it at school today.</div>
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The other project I finished was this "ranger cowl" for my park ranger husband. He wanted a brown scarf to wear with his uniform. I didn't have enough of this yarn for a scarf so I made him this cowl instead. It's kind of nice knowing that on a cold day at work he can wear something made with love to help him stay nice and warm. </div>
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I want to make W a pair of felted mittens to match his scrappy hat. Also I'm thinking that it's time the mama in this family makes herself a hat and cowl to help her stay warm this winter too.<br />
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For more "wooly" goodness, please stop by my photography project <a href="http://wool365.blogspot.com/">Wool365</a>. Often these days things I am making are posted there before I manage to post the here at Under The Old Oak Tree.Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-40650469063851286492012-01-04T12:02:00.000-05:002012-01-04T12:17:09.746-05:00Yarn Along and announcing Wool 365It's been quite a while since I've been on this space and I've missed it. I think I'm back, but I need to figure out how this is now going to work into our family's rhythm. It seems like joining in the Yarn Along each week might be a good place to start. Speaking of rhythm, we need to figure that out again now that the holidays are winding down.<br />
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I'm also announcing the start of a new project of mine, <a href="http://wool365.blogspot.com/">Wool 365</a>. DH and I got a new DSLR camera for Christmas and I figured taking pictures each day would be a good way to learn to use the camera. I decided to use Wool as my subject. While working on decluttering this week I realized that I have surrounded our family with wool. My creativity is largely wool based, with the needle felting, knitting and crocheting that I do. For me, it seems like a natural subject matter.<br />
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This fall was super busy for us. It has also been a really lovely blessed time for our family. We had lots of company over the last few months, which was wonderful. We've celebrated festivals and holidays and birthdays and maybe if I get around to it I'll share more about that later. W and I have been attending a weekly Waldorf Play group and we also have our parent-child class at the school once a week. DH and I are attending bi-weekly parent discussions that are being offered by one of the teachers at the school as well. The school and the school community have been so wonderful for our family this fall and I am eagerly awaiting the spring term, hoping to get involved in the handwork group etc.<br />
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Okay, now to the yarn along. I'm joining with <a href="http://www.gsheller.com/2012/01/yarn-along-59.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gsheller%2FqXrF+%28small+things%29">Ginny of Small Things for this week's yarn along</a>. I've got lots of WIP, but the two I've been working on primarily are the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alice-18">Alice shawl</a> in Green/Plum Malabrigo sock yarn, and what I am calling the Ranger Cowl for DH to be able to wear to work now that the weather seems to be getting colder finally. I'm using this Easy Unisex Cowl pattern for it and since DH claims a wool allergy (can you believe I'm married to a man with a wool allergy?) I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease that is mostly acrylic. I don't think that will make him too itchy. This allergy is probably the reason I don't knit many things for him though.<br />
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In terms of reading, I received a Kindle for Christmas and I am loving it. I just finished reading Philippa Gregory's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Rivers-Cousins-War-ebook/dp/B004T4KX32/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325694155&sr=1-1">Lady Rivers</a> on it. Philippa Gregory novels (and others about dead British royals too) are one of my big guilty pleasures! I also have put all the pdf's of patterns I'm knitting onto it which is just wonderful! DH and I are also working through <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Simplicity-Parenting-Extraordinary-Happier-ebook/dp/B002LLRDS8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1325694367&sr=1-1">Simplicity Parenting</a> together for the parent discussions that we have been attending at W's school.<br />
<br />Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-63656558348648242802011-10-15T22:41:00.000-04:002011-10-15T22:41:14.238-04:00Still around...<br />
It's been too long since I've posted on here yet again. We've been BUSY! Apple picking, fall festivals at our previous Waldorf school and our new school, making apple butter, trips to go visit friends, a trip to Williamsburg, trying to establish our autumn rhythm and in my case having one of the worst colds I can remember. Of course, I've not managed to document most of this because my camera battery is dead and I haven't been able to locate my charger since our vacation out west ( I need to write more about that too, but not tonight).<br />
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Today was the fall festival at our new school. It was a magical day for W and I. It felt so good to be at the school, surrounded by such a beautiful, caring community, and engaged in lovely activities. W got to make a bird feeder and a little sachet that he's keeping under his pillow. He also dug for buried treasure, and played with a beautiful marble run. We watched a wonderful puppet play performed by his teacher. He was also very excited because he was able to sit by her lovely assistant teacher during the performance. His two favorite things though were a delightful children's musician who let W play the bongos while he sang (my boy LOVES drums) and shucking corn. Seriously, my thumbs hurt because he wanted me to constantly be shucking the corn too. We did this for hours at a time! I wish I had my camera today. He was just so happy and engaged in his work all day. I'm thinking I need to be getting some of this corn so he can do this at home too. His corn bin is getting sparse again and he clearly thinks this is a fantastic activity.<br />
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I'm also starting to think about Christmas. I'd like to do all handmade again this year but I feel like I'm running terribly behind and I'm not totally sure what to do for everyone yet. Most of my ideas seem to be for W and I'm working to balance them out between for his birthday and Christmas. I did get one gift completed this week while I tried to rest and recover from this cold. My mom the other day found a needle-felted nativity on Etsy and loved the idea so much she just could not stop talking about it. Hint. Hint. So I set about starting one for her. I have made the principal figures of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. I'm fairly pleased with how these have come out. I plan on working on additional pieces to add to it in the coming years. I had initially planned to make the large set all this year, but I would like to have time to make gifts for other people too.<br />
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<br /></div>Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-11813765234918837592011-10-01T21:05:00.000-04:002011-10-01T21:05:38.225-04:00Happy Michaelmas!Our family finally celebrated Michaelmas this evening. Things have seemed a little unorganized and chaotic this year since we've had a couple of different illnesses floating around here the past few weeks. I think our celebration was still quite lovely even if I never did find our wooden dragon for the nature table and we ended up with blackberry crumble instead of pie due to time constraints.<br />
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It has been really fun celebrating with W this year though. W and I have been singing Michaelmas songs and verses all week and at school W's teacher told us the most lovely Michaelmas story about a boy named George who picks apples and puts one on the family table for Michaelmas. She has been doing a little puppet story of this for a few weeks now and W has loved it! After his first class, we went to a thrift store and he found a basket "to pick apples like George". We actually ended up with two such baskets and used them when we went apple picking as a family (more on that another time). For our table setting this evening W chose one of the apples that we picked and polished it and put it on the table under our dragon candle. <br />
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W also decided that his St. George doll would be a good addition to our table decor, so George joined us for Michaelmas dinner this year. I thought it was quite fitting. We also picked some wild asters today to put on the table. We were hoping to find some actual Michaelmas daisies in our neighborhood, but had to settle for some small white and purple flowers instead. They were still a lovely addition to the table. Of course W and I also really enjoyed working together to roll and decorate our dragon candle for this year and make our annual dragon bread. </div>
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One other Michaelmas preparation was to dye some golden playsilks with turmeric. We did a trial run this week and will be making some more next week with friends, continuing our Michaelmas celebration for a little while. Just before dinner, I presented W with one of the silks as a cape. The other we place on our dining room table under the centerpiece.</div>
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In the past I've written about our traditional Michaelmas meal of Cornish hens, carrots and onion stuffing. As I mentioned before we also had dragon bread and blackberry crisp with the meal. The blackberry crisp actually worked out pretty well since W is not partial to pie in general.</div>
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I've been trying to focus on some inner work as well this week...choosing my personal dragons to conquer and subdue this year. One of the big ones is to work on my will and spend more time keeping my home up and less time on the computer. I've been trying to work on it this week, limiting computer time during W's waking hours to quickly pulling up a recipe or project directions and trying to save the majority of my computer usage to in the morning before he wakes up, during nap time and after bedtime. </div>
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Another of my personal dragons is being in the moment and working on maintaining my clam throughout the day; being a gentle, but authoritative (not authoritarian) presence as we go about our daily tasks and rhythm. It's not always the easiest thing for me, but I when I am mindful about it, as I have tried to be this week, it is very successful. I will say that W's teacher and her assistant set beautiful example of this and I have been paying very close attention to their interactions with him at school. Watching them this week, something has clicked in my brain and I get it in a way I did not previously. As long as I am mindful, and gently redirect (often physically turning him to something else) and use not just a more gentle tone, but fewer words as well, I am successful. One day this week in particular, I attempted to not talk as much and especially not when W was getting into things that were not okay, physically redirecting first. Sometimes it took a couple of times redirecting him to a toy or activity on the other side of the room, but we ended up having so many fewer power struggles and no yelling from either of us. What a difference...but it requires being mindful and in the moment! I guess you could say that my dragons this year are really one dragon of being distracted by outside stuff that keeps me from being mindful and in the moment. I think this is a big dragon for me to tackle this year, but oh, so needed.</div>
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Wishing you all light, courage and strength in this glorious autumn season.</div>
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<b>HAPPY MICHAELMAS!</b></div>
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Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-26600726226694473512011-09-29T21:58:00.000-04:002011-09-29T21:58:15.132-04:00W goes West...Part II can't believe that September is practically gone and Michaelmas is here. I'm a bit under the weather so we are delaying our family celebration for a day or two and next week we will dye golden playsilks with friends. September has flown by for our family. This is largely because we spent one week of this past month preparing for travel, two on the road to Oklahoma and back and the past week trying to recover and battling post vacation illnesses.<br />
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Our trip was wonderful. We traveled through 12 states taking a northern route on the way there and a southern route on the way home and were able to stop in most states to do a little sight seeing along the way. My parents came from Oklahoma to meet us in Missouri before we all went on to their house. <br />
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My mom and I also planned a trip to Kansas while we were at my parents house to visit the <a href="http://littlehouseontheprairiemuseum.com/Little_House_on_the_Prairie_Museum.html">Little House on the Prairie museum</a>. All along our road trip we prepared Will to go visit "Laura's House". We've been reading<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=my+first+little+house+books&sprefix=My+First+Li"> the My First Little House books</a> for a few months now so he was very excited by this! As we started out in the car he got a <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30138204/">stuffed animal Bull-dog </a>which he promptly and aptly named Jack. He also got a large brimmed straw "farmer hat" as he calls it and he was set to go. I had one or two "Little House" surprises for him each day along the way including a farmer and farmer's wife dollhouse dolls which he decided were Laura and Almonzo, a laminated sticker book of pioneer farm life, his own copies of some of the My First Little House books (we'd been borrowing them from the library) including <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Prairie-Day-First-Little-House/dp/0064435040/ref=pd_sim_b4">Prairie Day </a>and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Little-Prairie-House/dp/0064435261/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1317347224&sr=8-3">A Little Prairie House</a> , since we were headed towards the prairie, and a tin cup. I also gave W one of these little wagons at some point during the trip. During the ride we played <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Woods-Unabr-Price/dp/0061365343/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317347627&sr=8-1">Little House in the Big Woods</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Farmer-Boy-CD-Little-House/dp/0060565004/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317347785&sr=1-1">Farmer Boy</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Prairie-Ingalls-Wilder/dp/0061563056/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b">Little House on the Prairie</a> audio books which DH and I really enjoyed. Little did I realize that wagons would become a theme for much of the trip<br />
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Okay, before I tell you of our adventures I should probably mention that DH is a Park Ranger for the National Park Service, so our vacations tend to include lots and lots of national park sites.<br />
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. Our first stop was at the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/cumberlandvisitorcenter.htm">Cumberland visitors center of the C&O canal</a>. DH worked on the Canal down in Georgetown before W was born so he wanted to see the 184.5 mile marker up at Cumberland. Cumberland is a sweet little town in the hills of Western Maryland. It holds additional significance to me as that is where my grandfather purchased the wedding rings for my grandmother. When DH and I got married on my grandparents wedding anniversary, my grandmothers rings were the ones he gave me.<br />
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Our next stop was at<a href="http://www.nps.gov/fone/index.htm"> Fort Necessity National Battlefield</a> in Pennsylvania. The site deals with the start of the French and Indian War as well as the National Road. In general we felt the history of Ft. Necessity was probably a bit much for a toddler, but we were delighted that the park had this covered wagon playground. DH and I took turns going through the visitor center exhibits while the other played with W outside.<br />
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Then we took a family walk out to the fort. </div>
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The next day we went to Dayton Ohio. I grew up just outside of Dayton, so this was a really special day for me. We started out visiting the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/daav/index.htm">Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park</a> which was established a year after my family moved away from the area. Many of the sites within the park are places I grew up visiting as a child. I remembered many visits to <a href="http://www.daytonhistory.org/destinations/carillon-park.htm">Carillon Park</a> with my mom as a child. It is set up as a little village of buildings important to the history of the Dayton area and includes part of the National Park site with the Wright Flyer III in one of it's buildings. Will especially enjoyed the school house....<br />
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...and the Wright Flyer III...</div>
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...and riding on this amazing carousel of Dayton Innovation with Daddy.</div>
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We also visited The Wright Brothers' Memorial which is another Dayton Aviation site. As we drove up the hill I remembered my mom and I taking picnic lunches there and making little teacups and saucers from the acorns under the trees there. Such beautiful childhood memories came back to me in that spot.<br />
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We also visited the visitors center museum and Wright Brothers Bicycle shop downtown which was a new experience for me.<br />
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We had hoped to visit the Paul Lawrence Dunbar house as well, but that will have to wait for a future visit. <br />
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We then went to the neighborhood where I grew up. Somehow we didn't take any pictures there. As we were driving down the street where I grew up, I saw one of our former neighbors working outside in his driveway. I shouted for DH to stop the car and jumped out. He had gone back in the house by the time I got there, but we were able to have a delightful, visit with them and they were able to meet W. There's something very powerful in going back to where you grew up and seeing old neighbors again for the first time after twenty-odd years. That neighborhood and those neighbors had a profound effect on me growing up and a large impact on the person I am today. Such a dear place and such dear folks. They contributed significantly to my interest in the natural world around me, and taught me to be interested in the wider world and other cultures, and were just significant loving parts of my "village" as I grew up.<br />
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The next day took us to St. Louis. DH also worked at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial otherwise known as the Arch. DH did one of his early seasons with the Park Service there so he was able to catch up with some old friends and colleagues there. He and W went up to the top of the arch. I preferred to stay down in the museum and find things that I specifically wanted to point out to W (I'm not big on heights or enclosed spaces). W LOVED the arch. He claims that he now works there sometimes like his daddy.<br />
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This covered wagon was W's favorite part of the museum, though he also really enjoyed seeing the iron spider skillet like Ma cooks in, in Prairie Day.</div>
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That's probably enough of our trip for now. I'll do one or two more posts in the coming days about the rest of it.</div>
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<br />Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481852894091101394.post-63576204357932229722011-08-30T16:48:00.000-04:002011-08-30T16:48:29.612-04:00Weathering the StormIrene didn't hit us nearly as hard as I expected and for that I am grateful. I had us prepared to be without electricity/water for 1-2 weeks. We lost power for about two seconds at the worst part of the storm, so we were very very lucky. Many of my friends down in Richmond are still without power and I know it is not easy for them. I think it is especially difficult for those with young children. I have heard of/seen pictures of several homes there that have trees that have fallen on them and it is heartbreaking. I pray that those families are all safe.<br />
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W and I went down there yesterday to visit with some friends and it was painful to see the damage that was done by this storm, but I am grateful for the things that were not damaged. Our old neighborhood, was without power, but, none of the trees in the neighborhood sustained damage. I am grateful for that. I was so worried that the trees we played under almost every day when we lived there would have fallen over, and so happy to see them. The beautiful old oak trees in the parking lot of our old church did not fair so well. All three had fallen down. So sad. Leaving yesterday, W told me that he was sad about the trees and about leaving his friends. For all of his wild boyish enthusiasm, he is also such a sweet sensitive child.<br />
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Somehow, during the daylight hours of the storm, Irene ended up being a largely outdoor event for us. After sorting some things out on the phone with W's lovely, wonderful teacher from the Waldorf school Saturday morning, we took her advice and got him outside before the wind and rain got too rough. We walked through the neighborhood, splashed in puddles and then played on the neighborhood tennis court which was one big puddle at that time. We had such a wonderful time. W did not want to come back inside, but I decided we needed to since the wind was picking up a bit and it was becoming more and more difficult to keep our hoods up on our heads. Of course W's rain boots were lost in our move so we had to make do with his water shoes, but it wasn't that cold out so it worked okay. (Must find or get new rain boots asap)!<br />
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During the rest of the day on Saturday, our balcony seemed to be the place to be. Luckily we live on the side of our building that is a bit more sheltered from these types of storms. W spent a very long time standing on a chair reaching over the balcony trying to soak in some of the wind and rain. He loved it! We stayed out there till it was time to come in for his bedtime. After that the storm did get a good bit stronger, but I was grateful that it wasn't that bad during daylight hours and that we had a protected place to get some fresh air.<br />
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On Sunday after the rain stopped we hung out on our balcony shelling and eating peanuts (which I had planned to have as something that would be fun and a good way to get some protein if we lost power.) W thought this was a real treat.<br />
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We also took a nature walk around the neighborhood and checked out the damage. The worst of it was the tree that fell on the slide at the playground where we usually play.<br />
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W loved rebuilding his stick collection which had been picked up by the lawn service last week.<br />
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We also were able to find lots of leaves, acorns and other items that had blown off the trees. I had both pockets full of acorns by the time we got home. And so the yearly case of acornitis begins! <br />
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This could have been so, so much worse than it was. As it was we didn't even really end up being cooped up by the storm. We are very blessed and lucky that we had so little damage in our area and that we were able to keep electricity. I have heard from so many friends up and down the eastern seaboard who fared much much worse than we did. Many are without power or face flooding conditions or trees down on their property. They continue to be in my thoughts and prayers as folks work to clean up from Irene.Ericasuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14551713225881051332noreply@blogger.com0